Question

Which of the following isn’t a characteristic of mixed cropping?
(a)Minimize the risk of crop failure
(b)Set a pattern of rows
(c)Harvesting and threshing crops separately aren’t possible
(d)Individual marketing and consumption of crop isn’t possible

Answer 1

Mixed cropping is the practice of cultivating more than one crop, that is growing of two or more crops simultaneously in the same field. For example, wheat with gram, wheat with mustard, etc. crops are selected such that their nutrient requirements are different.

Complete answer:
A type of agriculture that involves the planting two or more plants simultaneously in the same field, is called mixed cropping that involves interdigitating the crops—like interlocking your fingers—so that they grow together, also known as Polyculture, or inter-cropping, or co-cultivation. Planting more than one saves space since crops ripen during different seasons and it also provides a wealth of environmental benefits including maintaining weed and disease control, a balance of the soil nutrients, insect pest suppression; resistance to ay kind of climate extremes; gives an increase in overall productivity, and also the management of scarce land resources to its maximum potential. Cropping the American three sisters: maize, beans, and cucurbits (squash and pumpkins) is the classic example of mixed cropping, which can be domesticated at different times but eventually, an important component formed by this combination that forms Native American agriculture and cuisine.

Additional information:

1. Historically documentation of the mixed cropping of the three sisters is done by the Seneca and Iroquois tribes in the U.S. northeast, probably began sometime after 1000 C.E.
2. Fewer nutrient inputs required in mixed croppings such as fertilizers, pruning, pest control, and irrigation than monoculture farming, and as is often more cost-effective as a result.
3. In India, a practice called Baranaja in the Garhwal Himalaya involves sowing 12 or more crops on the same plot, including various types of beans, grains, and millets, and harvesting them at different times. Hence, multiple cropping became more prevalent in Asian countries.

So, the correct answer is, ‘Individual marketing and consumption of crops aren’t possible.’

Note: The practice of mixed cropping is a very beneficial method that results in providing a rich, biodiverse environment, species richness, and fostering habitat for animals and beneficial insect species including butterflies and bees. As compared to monoculture fields in some situations, there is even some evidence that suggests that polyculture fields produce higher yields, and almost always increase biomass richness over time. Polyculture is important for the regrowth of biodiversity in forests, heathlands, grasslands, and marshes has been particularly.